The line-item veto (LIV) has been sought by nearly every president this century as a tool to limit pork barrel spending which is traditionally reviled as the most cynically deployed and least utilitarian form of largess.
The 1998 budget included $300,000 for enhancing the flavor of peanuts, $150,000 for peanut competitiveness and $250,000 for pickle research.
President Clinton said the LIV is an important tool for striking unnecessary spending, for preserving the integrity of federal spending and enlivening the public debate over how to make the best use of public funds.
The Solicitor General contended that the LIV represents a presidential exercise of spending authority delegated by Congress.
110 years ago, Lord Bryce said the LIV was "desired by enlightened men and would save the nation millions of dollars a year".
The LIV is a prerogative given to 43 governors.
A Republican-controlled Congress passed the Line-Item Veto Act which went into effect January 1997.
President Clinton used the authority to veto 82 items in 11 bills, including money for New York hospitals, a tax break for Idaho potato growers, 38 projects worth $287M in military construction, $144M from a defense spending bill and $30M for intercepting asteroids.
The Line-Item Veto Act was overturned by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson in April 1997 and later ruled 6-3 as unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court because it allows the president to alter a law after passage, thereby creating a new law not voted on by either house of Congress.
